Whiteside Middle School

Whiteside Middle School is a middle school of medium-sized scale in Belleville, Illinois, run under Whiteside SD 115, caters to 475 students in grades 5 through 8.

Within Whiteside SD 115, which oversees 2 schools and 1,155 students, Whiteside Middle School is one campus in the system.

On demographics, Whiteside Middle School reports that 59% of the student body identifies as Black. Beyond that, the school reports 24% White, 11% multiracial, 5% Hispanic. By comparison, St. Clair County as a whole is about 28% Black, so the school skews meaningfully more Black than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Whiteside Middle School has 29 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 16.4:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 13.0:1 average. About 56% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Whiteside Middle School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 39.3% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 30.4%.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for St. Clair County indicate median household earnings sit near $73,854, roughly 32% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. In all, St. Clair County runs 96 public schools (combined enrollment of about 40,879 students), of which Whiteside Middle School is one.

The closest other public school is Whiteside Elem School, roughly 0.7 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Whiteside Middle School ranks 8th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 43.6%.

The campus sits in a suburban setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked down 14%: 555 students in 2018 compared to 475 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share ticked down from 33% to 24%.

Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the Whiteside Middle School community share and discuss sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.